A/N: Turns out that the one time I shouldn't be writing is the one time I steamroll through this stuff with about a million different ideas at once…
Oh, the humanity…
Well, anyhow, I'm glad people approved of the last chapter. To be honest, I expected more to happen in this one, but I kind of reached a point where it seemed like a good place to stop. Heck, what do you care, as long as I keep tap-tap-tappin' away on my keyboard, here? Oh, yeah, and I've finished the first Sailor Moon boxset, so I'm well on my merry way!
Disclaimer: Do I need to disclaim this again? Because I don't own them, you know. Honestly…
Enjoy!
Drink Up, 'Fess Up, Throw Up
--- THE PARTY – MINAKO'S P.O.V. ---
I wander into Rei's room and find her sitting with her knees up against the far wall. She has a photo frame in her hand. The only sign that she isn't sober is that she's swaying slightly. Normally she's so calm and still.
"Rei?"
She turns to look at me, her head a little clumsy on her shoulders.
So maybe she's not so graceful either.
"Are you alright?"
Okay, okay, and her eyes are bloodshot.
"Yeah, Mina, I'm fiiiine."
And she's slurring a little. Fine, you know what? To the trained eye she's absolutely out of it, happy? Or at least as out of it as I've ever seen her, which basically equates to she's tipsy and I'm melodramatic…
I pad across the room and sit down beside her.
Oh, it's that picture of the five of us at the park!
"Oh, it's that picture of the five of us at the park!"
What? You should know by now that I say what I think. Except, of course, what I think of her…
"Mina-chan?"
"Hai?"
She lets her head fall onto my shoulder and wraps an arm around my waist. I am mildly alarmed.
"What do you think of me?"
Seriously, Kami, this whole cosmic torment stint has got to stop.
"Wh- what do you mean?"
"What do you think I mean?"
And mind games, Drunk-chan, do not help.
"Well, you're… nice…" ('Nice'? The rest of the time you don't shut up and now the best you can give the girl you love is 'NICE'??) "When you're not hitting me over the head with bottles, that is…"
I can't see her face, but I picture her pouting. "I said sorry!"
"And you're smart…" (Overused, anyone?) (Shut up!) "And… you're my best friend, Rei-chan. Of course I think you're great. Who wouldn't?"
Silence. I think for a moment.
"What do you think of me?"
I practically jump out of my skin as she abruptly sits up. There's a cooling spot on my shoulder when her head was, and I am achingly aware of it. She gives me a startled look which extends over a good few seconds, before apparently finally registering the question as she begins to study me exaggeratedly. Eventually she just breaks out into a huge and very un-Rei-like grin and lays her head in my lap.
"You're pretty."
I sweat-drop.
--- IN THE KITCHEN - THE PARTY – EARLIER THAT NIGHT ---
"Hey Mina-chan."
"Oh, it's you."
"Can I talk to you?"
You can do whatever you want to me, Rei-chan…
"Sure. Just give me a sec."
… But it doesn't mean I can't still have fun with you.
Mina walked over to a cupboard, pulled out a saucepan, and put it on her head.
"Now I'm sufficiently protected against your ungodly wrath, what's up?"
Rei attempted to glower, but a smirk nullified its usual effect. Knowing this, she shook off the look and was left with a slightly sheepish expression.
"I just wanted to apologise. It wasn't fair for me to abuse your services."
"My what, now?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." The dark-haired Senshi stopped, and then became more serious. "It's just that I think maybe you guys should lay off Ami with the alcohol, you know? She's not exactly the drinking type."
Mina looked at Sailor Mars for a moment. She grinned slyly.
"What about you?"
Rei blinked. "What about me?"
"Are you the drinking type?"
"No! My plan is a couple of glasses of wine and that's it."
With that, Rei turned her back on her friend, preparing to go back to the living room. She placed her arms behind her head, and commented:
"You guys forget I've gotta clean up after you tramps tomorrow, not to mention get through my shrine duties. I can't afford to get a hangover."
She exited the kitchen, and as the light of Mina's life disappeared out of sight, another one sparked in her brain.
I couldn't..?
"And get some damned drinks in here, slowpoke!"
I totally could.
--- TEN MINUTES LATER ---
"Mina, what are you doing with a saucepan on your head?"
"Huh? Eheh, oh yeah…"
--- TWO HOURS LATER ---
"And- and that time when we first met Mina, and I told her to call Usagi 'Meatball Head' because she loved the name so much? Kami, Odango was so mad, I thought she was gonna explode."
Minako's eye twitched at the unpleasant memory of Usagi chasing her around Rei's shrine with a broom, while the miko herself was crying with laughter on the floor.
That was a mean trick, Rei-chan.
She quietly opened the bottle of white wine on the coffee table and topped up the brunette's glass slightly, much like she'd been doing for about an hour or so now.
Then again, so is this. I guess it very nearly makes us even, huh?
It was actually quite remarkable that the normally sharp Senshi hadn't noticed that her glass had so far failed to empty, though Minako hadn't dared attempt it before she was nearing the end of her second drink.
Of course, Rei fulfilled the rest of the plan on her own. She always notably downed soft drinks subconsciously when she was in a conversation with someone, and now that her restraint had been weakened she was doing the same with the alcohol.
If anything, I'm doing her a favour. How could I live with myself, seeing a look of disappointment on that pretty face when she realised her glass was empty and she couldn't remember drinking the wine herself?
"Haha, heh…" Rei stopped and suddenly noticed something.
"Hey, where the heck is Meatball Head anyway?"
Ami shrugged. "With Mamoru I guess."
"Or she forgot it was happening, which wouldn't surprise me," Makoto added.
Ami peered past Mako at Rei, and felt a little embarrassed for her. For someone who wanted to stay sober and chastise others for drinking, she sure wasn't doing so well on the hypocrisy front.
She looked down at her own glass, half of the first helping still sloshing around inside.
At least I seem to be doing alright.
Suddenly an arm draped around the back of her neck, and she flushed furiously upon realising that it was the Lightning Senshi.
"So, what do you say, Ami? Now Little Miss Teetotaller has taken the plunge, hows about we get you another drink?"
"O-oh!" she stammered. "Uh, no thanks. Besides, I still have to finish this-"
"Ooooh!"
Suddenly Makoto jumped up and away from her to stare dreamily at a magazine on the coffee table, the front page of which showed a hunk from a rock band.
"He totally reminds me of my old boyfriend…"
Ami's eyes suddenly became heavy-lidded and brimmed with annoyance. She downed her drink in one, then held her glass out to Minako.
"Refill."
A/N: A little shorter than the last one, like I said, but still good by my standards.
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Hope you liked it. R&R!